IT Insights Blog — convoluted sports metaphors

Spring is just around the corner, and that means that baseball players are, um, already shagging fly balls and taking BP. Hey, you think spring training can wait until, you know, spring is actually here? Not a chance. The Arizona-based Cactus League tossed out the first pitch on Feb. 21, while the Grapefruit League kicked off in Florida on Feb. 22. It's hardly reasonable to expect baseball players to be ready to play 180 games if they don't get started early.

If you follow the National Basketball Association (NBA), as several of us here at TestOut Continuing Education do, then you've probably been a little bit dizzied already by the flurry of trade activity among teams in the league. The league-imposed deadline to complete trades for the current season is tomorrow afternoon, so we've officially entered the window during which a flurry can blow up into a blizzard literally overnight. Of course, just like in the real world, a few flakes is no guarantee of a major dump.

One of our favorite movies of 2018 is the Alex Honnold rock climbing documentary Free Solo. It's one of five films presently in contention for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, and a must-see for anyone who's the least bit intrigued by big wall climbing. If you haven't seen it yet, then check your local theater listings quick! There's a special one-week IMAX release that begins Friday, and this is definitely a film that would be more enjoyable on a massive IMAX screen.

As explained by Starfleet captain and occasional rock climber James T. Kirk at the beginning of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the "most important reason to climb any mountain" is the root motivation for many, if not most, feats of human adventure and daring: "Because it's there." (Kirk is busy attempting to climb Yosemite's El Capitan.) A challenge exists, ergo I must overcome it. The impulse to prove ... something has inspired many a mountaineer to attempt the insurmountable.

Saving money is a beautiful thing. Almost everyone who buys things on a regular basis would choose to save money if they could. Suppose that you are driving down the street with your gas indicator on E. You see two service stations ahead, one on either side of the road. On the left, gas is $2.99/gallon, while on the right the price is $2.44/gallon. Assuming all other variables are equal, do you turn right or left? Let's face it: Most of you turned right as soon as you saw "$2.44."